In Jonathan's story this morning — about the Romney team's plan to dial up their intensity a bit against Rick Perry without going into full-on panic mode — there's this intriguing nugget about the South Carolina senator:

Romney will attend a Tea Party rally in Concord, New Hampshire, on Sunday, a Monday morning pancake breakfast in Manchester and then fly to South Carolina to attend a candidate forum put on by Sen. Jim DeMint.

Romney had originally indicated he would not attend the DeMint event, but he changed his mind after having a conversation with the influential conservative.

“He’s a good friend and we wanted to do what we could to make it work,” said senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom of their change of heart. DeMint was a key Romney backer in 2008, but is holding out this election cycle. Romney’s reconsideration suggests that the South Carolinian hasn’t ruled out endorsing the former governor again.

DeMint endorsed Romney in 2008, but has expressed new reservations this time around, particularly with respect to Romney's record on health care. If the media-friendly conservative is really still open to supporting Romney this cycle — despite both the health care issue and Romney's well documented aversion to campaigning in South Carolina — that could be a prize worth fighting for.